Learn how to move beyond writing rules to craft stories that truly enchant, connect with readers, and sell.
You can follow every writing rule perfectly… and still fail to write a book that sells.
And I don’t just mean commercially. I mean — fail to connect. Fail to hold a reader’s attention past chapter three. Fail to deliver the emotional punch that makes a story memorable.
Because knowing all those rules doesn’t equal a real strategy.
So in this article, I’m going to show you why doing everything “right” still isn’t enough — and what separates technically good writing from stories that truly enchant readers.
Let me guess...
You've been told the way to write a marketable book was to develop relatable, flawed characters, keep the action moving, and write consistently every day.
But when that didn't help your book connect with readers, you started to wonder if you just aren't meant to be an author.
But you totally are! You were just never taught what actually connects with readers on the page.
It's not you. It's because this oft-touted advice or all the writing “rules” aren’t actual craft or an optimized process (for anyone, really!) for going from story idea to marketable book.
Is it good to write relatable characters and make sure you write every day? Maybe. If they're even truly possible.
But doing these things won't get you all the way to a marketable book.
You have to strengthen your craft from a foundation based in what readers are actually looking for in books if you want to make sure yours can be marketable.
The best part? You don't even have to "write every day."
When you know how to optimize your process and translate your story to the page in a way that satisfies both you and your readers, you can waste less time AND write more effectively.
So let’s dive into how to do that.
You might already have realized that writing “rules” or all the various craft tips are like puzzle pieces from a hundred different boxes.
Each one can fit somewhere, but until you know which box is yours — which genre, which promise, which reader experience — you’re just forcing pieces together.
You can nail “show don’t tell,” keep the action moving, build your world, hit every beat — and still end up with a story that feels “meh” and certainly not what you imagined for it either.
Not because you did anything wrong, but because you were following all the advice without a system to tell you which rules actually matter for your story, and why.
You might also have realized that not all advice is created equal. Some advice is flat out wrong or at least frequently misconstrued and regurgitated in further and further erroneous ways.
For example, in this article, I go on a little rant about where the advice to “write relatable characters” gets it all wrong when we look at it through the lens of what readers actually need to connect.
It’s not that making your character super similar to your readers is always the wrong choice, but it’s often not what you actually need for a character readers care deeply about.
It really depends on what will best serve your unique story — especially its genre and subgenre, what the market expectations are, the promise of your story, and how it all works with the theme or message and tone of your novel.
All the rules and advice—they’re context-dependent. Each one has come about in some manner to fix a specific type of problem — for a specific kind of story, reader, or moment.
And without knowing which context you’re in, applying them can actually make your story worse.
So rather than doing too little — you might be trying to do too much, without understanding how all those pieces serve the reader’s experience as a whole.
The deeper truth is that writing rules exist to support how readers naturally process story.
They’re shortcuts to cognitive ease — the sense of flow and comprehension that lets a reader feel what’s happening without stumbling over confusion or detachment.
But when you apply those rules without the larger framework to guide you, they may not actually work at all.
That’s why rules alone can’t get you there. Because piecing together craft advice or rules without strategy is just noise.
It’s kind of like learning to play my great-great-grandfather’s 1895 pump organ.
A little while back, my cousins were moving and couldn’t keep it. The antiquer and wannabe piano player in me was thrilled to give it a home.
My great-great-grandfather learned to play entirely by ear — something I have absolutely no understanding of. Like… just how?
I took piano lessons for eight years and still struggle to play anything fluidly.
I don’t have a natural knack for it and struggle to stay in the right rhythm despite technically knowing how to play and knowing the notes.
But I love music. I love the challenge. And fortunately, while it would be helpful, it doesn’t require talent — it requires skill.
I can learn the rules — the keys and chords — I can study the rhythm and notation, and I can practice until it becomes muscle memory to put it all together for the song I want to play.
Sure, I have to work harder at it than someone with a gift for music, but eventually I can still play The Phantom of the Opera on the kind of instrument it was meant for.
And that’s the right key (pun totally intended) because even if I know the notes, the chords, the time signature… that doesn’t make it music yet.
Each part might be correct on its own, but without understanding how they fit together — how to bring it all together for what this song needs — it’ll sound mechanical and flat.
That’s exactly what happens when you follow every writing rule without strategy. The technical pieces are there, but there’s no cohesion, no emotional movement, no art.
Writing is the same kind of skill. You might not be the kind of person who can “just write” instinctively, hitting all the emotional and structural notes in one go.
But that doesn’t mean you’re not capable of writing an incredible, marketable story.
It means you’re honing the craft — the keys, the chords, the structure and how to put them together in a way that makes stories work.
And just like music, once you understand the system, your creativity can finally flow.
So how do you know which rules actually matter for your book?
Because while following every writing rule you’ve ever heard isn’t going to get you to a marketable book, most of them still have a place.
Mastery in your craft is knowing the rules, yes, but it’s also knowing which pieces of craft advice apply when, and when they’re being taken too far or not far enough.
Or when they need to be broken entirely.
Here are three things you need to know so you can figure out which rules are truly essential for your story.
Ask yourself: Who is this book really for? Which bookstore section and shelf would it be in?
Research your story’s age category, genre, and subgenre — because each lane has different non-negotiables.
For example:
None of this means you can’t play within these “rules” or test the boundaries. But your story’s market has certain conventions that make it what it is.
If you’re not following the right rules, your readers are going to be confused or upset at being misled.
Every market lane carries an implicit promise. Your “rules” exist to help you deliver that promise.
I like to equate promise with premise when I work with authors in my book coaching program.
We use a tight premise to hold to the core conflict type and flavor of the story. It acts as a focused guide that anchors every narrative choice.
Action Step: Write your story’s premise in just two sentences, then discover what’s really at the heart of it.
If you’d like more direction on writing this premise, you can get my free Novel Premise Course.
This guiding premise helps you quickly clarify what writing advice applies—or doesn’t—to your story, and how you can best apply it.
You already know there’s plenty of variation within each of these promises, but once again, certain rules make up these promises in the first place.
If you set up the promise of a mystery or a romance and then don’t follow through on the rules that create that experience, you’re essentially breaking your promise to the reader — and no matter how well written your book is, they won’t be satisfied.
Lastly, ask yourself: What do you really want readers to get out of your story? What are you trying to tell them through it — and what do you want them to feel?
Your theme or message and your story’s tone will give you the answers here. These elements help you determine which rules or advice to prioritize in order to create a specific emotional experience for your readers.
Obviously, your genre, age category, and story’s content driver type will all shape that experience too.
But even two stories that match perfectly in those designations will still have their own distinct flavor — because no two authors are the same.
This step can cover a wide range of rules or advice, depending on the experience you want to create.
It’s perfectly fine — and even desirable — to vary your emotional beats and let the tone rise and fall throughout your story’s progression.
But veer too far from your theme and tone promises, and you risk jarring readers out of the story spell you worked so hard to cast.
These steps come right out of my three keys to reader enchantment: expectations, enlightenment, and experience.
These keys are distilled from my research into the brain science behind the reader experience. They’re designed to help you ensure that you’re not only meeting reader expectations — but exceeding them.
Expectations carry tremendous psychological weight for everything we experience in our lives — and the reader experience is no different.
Readers form expectations about story type, tone, and structure within seconds of starting your book.
So make sure you’re intentionally setting up the right promises, tapping into the way readers are immediately making predictions about your story.
When you fulfill — or skillfully subvert — those expectations, it activates the brain’s reward pathways. That’s what makes reading feel pleasurable, immersive, and emotionally resonant.
But don’t stop at just meeting expectations. You also need to deliver meaningful payoff for everything you set up — by staying true to your story’s theme and tone and giving readers those small moments of insight and clarity.
Readers love the “aha!” — that sense of discovery when something clicks. These moments of enlightenment light up the same reward centers as solving puzzles, leaving readers both surprised and deeply satisfied.
It’s these emotional payoffs that keep readers engaged — and keep your story living rent-free in their minds long after they close the book.
Immersion happens when your story delivers a coherent emotional flow.
By creating an experience that aligns with both your story’s internal logic and the kind of emotional or fantastical portal your readers are seeking, you keep them fully under the spell of your narrative.
When your “rules” serve the market, promise, and experience in harmony, you create that effortless, immersive flow that keeps readers turning pages — and remembering your book long after the final line.
And that’s exactly what we work through in my book coaching program, Enchant Your Readers.
Inside, I’ll teach you how to conduct market research and define your genre, subgenre, and age category.
We’ll map your exact readers’ expectations, analyze comp titles to see where your story fits, and refine your premise so your promise stays clear and compelling.
Then, we’ll use the Three Keys to Reader Enchantment to tailor every structural and emotional choice to your story—so you always know not just what the rules are, but why they work for your specific book.
That’s how you reach the point where you can follow them, bend them, or break them—strategically.
Because following every writing rule perfectly does not a marketable book make! And you want your novel to actually connect with readers.
Because knowing the rules isn’t the same as knowing how to use them.
You can master every tip, every checklist, and every “must-have” scene—and still end up with a story that feels flat, confused, or unfinished.
That’s not because you’re a bad writer. It’s because writing a novel isn’t a collection of parts—it’s a cohesive, complexly layered system.
And no matter how much advice you’ve gathered, if those rules aren’t working together in concert and with intention, your story can’t do on the page what you meant it to do in your own imagination.
Even for the authors who come into Enchant Your Readers feeling like they’ve done everything “right”…
They’ve studied story structure, character arcs, worldbuilding—and yet, their stories still aren’t landing with readers, agents, or editors.
But within a few weeks, as we start applying the why and when behind each craft choice, everything starts to click.
Because the truth is, fiction writing is a skill. And just like any skill—music, art, even building a house—you need more than the tools. You need a framework, feedback, and guidance.
In Enchant Your Readers, I’ll help you build the strategy behind your story—using the Three Keys to Reader Enchantment so you always know what your reader needs and how to deliver it.
We’ll take your current draft or idea, map out your character’s transformation, your story’s emotional flow and plot structure, and align it all with your genre and audience expectations.
Then we’ll layer in professional feedback to make sure those pieces work together to create a book that feels whole—that delivers the immersive, meaningful experience your readers are craving.
If you’re tired of collecting every piece of writing advice and trying to make all the rules work together, and you’re ready to start mastering the craft that makes them work, I’d love to help you.
The difference between a story that follows the rules and a story that enchants readers isn’t talent—it’s strategy, feedback, and understanding the system behind the magic.
You can join Enchant Your Readers today!
This field is quite theoretical. I'm extrapolating for authors what I can based on the findings we do have (and I'm certainly not a neuroscientist!). To explore a fuller background, you can see this article about a breadth of brain science sources (and their abstracts/descriptions) in my site's private resource library. Note: You'll need to register a free student account to access it: https://www.inkybookwyrm.com/blog/sources-on-the-science-of-story-craft-and-creativity
Categories: : creativity, novel drafting, novel planning, revision, self-editing
If you would like more resources and writing craft support, sign up for my FREE 3-Day Validate Your Novel Premise Challenge email course. You will learn how to check if you have a viable story idea to sustain a novel and then follow the guided action steps to craft your premise for a more focused drafting or revision experience in just three days.
Cut through the overwhelm and get your sci-fi/fantasy story to publishable one easy progress win at a time! I'll coach you through the planning, drafting, and self-editing stages to level up your manuscript. Take advantage of the critique partner program and small author community as you finally get your story ready to enchant your readers.
Using brain science hacks, hoarded craft knowledge, and solution-based direction, this book dragon helps science-fiction and fantasy authors get their stories — whether on the page or still in their heads — ready to enchant their readers. To see service options and testimonials to help you decide if I might be the right editor or book coach for you,
Hello! I'm Gina Kammer, The Inky Bookwyrm — an author, editor, and book coach. I give science fiction and fantasy authors direction in exploring their creativity and use brain science hacks to show them how to get their stories on the page or ready for readers.
I'll be the book dragon at your back.
Let me give your creativity wings.
This bookwyrm will find the gems in your precious treasure trove of words and help you polish them until their gleam must be put on display. Whether that display takes the form of an indie pub or with the intent of finding a traditional home — or something else entirely! — feed me your words, and I can help you make that dream become more than a fantasy.